Midnight Crisis
by Darkfire Galaxy
Summary: Sequel to Bad Dreams. Maddy and her friends join Emma and Dan for dinner in the restaurant of the holiday hotel they're staying in. They finally get a glimpse of the much feared alpha that has the owner so nervous. Unfortunately for Rhydian, someone is also up to mischief.


Wolfblood

Midnight Crisis

Now that they were on holiday after three years of stressful schoolwork, gruelling responsibilities as a Wolfblood regarding the secret and the humiliation of transforming in the den, Maddy Smith was determined to relax. Yet as she and her boyfriend Rhydian made their way to the dinner table her parents were waiting for them at, she couldn't help but feel nervous. This was her first time being anywhere other than home where everyone around her was either a Wolfblood or knew the secret. Noticing her nervousness, Rhydian pulled her aside quickly.

"Are you okay?" he asked. It was pointless lying to him. Her palms were sweaty and she was flushed despite just taking a cool shower.

"I feel really hot." Maddy replied. "I don't feel sick or anything, I just feel like I need to lie down in snow."

"Do you want to go back to the room and stick your head in the mini fridge for five minutes?" Rhydian asked. Maddy could tell he was only half joking. She knew he was seriously concerned about her. She wrung her brown hair in her hands and wiped her palms on her jeans.

"I don't think five would do it." Maddy was feeling short of breath.

"Do you think it's just nerves?" he suggested.

"It could be, but I doubt it." Maddy shrugged. "It feels like something bad could happen. I don't feel like myself."

"What do you mean?" Rhydian pressed.

"Is there a problem, kids?" Maddy jumped a mile. She hadn't noticed Emma get up from the table and make her way over. "There's no need to jump, Maddy. I don't bite. What's wrong?"

"It's nothing." Maddy shrugged, shaking her head to try and clear the cobwebs from her brain. "Come on, there's someone coming over to take orders." Rhydian was sceptical. Whatever this is, it clearly wasn't just 'nothing'. But if Maddy wasn't going to tell her mother for whatever reason, he trusted her. He didn't want to be 'that' boyfriend who freaked out over the slightest little thing. He wanted her to have her space too.

"Where are Tom and Shannon?" Dan asked as they sat down.

"They're coming down to join us in a second." Rhydian told him before casting a glance at the doorway. "Oh, speak of the devil…" Tom and Shannon made their way over hand-in-hand. Shannon was wearing a top that showed a sequin heart with an arrow through it. Maddy couldn't help but wonder if that was deliberate since they'd recently started dating. Tom was in his usual football-style shirt and jeans.

"Have you ordered yet?" Tom asked.

"We're just about to." Rhydian told him.

"Is that all you boys think about?" Maddy snapped as she punched Rhydian on the arm. "Do you _really_ think with your stomachs all the time?"

"No, they think with their trousers half the time and their stomachs the other half." Emma rolled her eyes.

"I actually can't tell if you're being serious or not there." Shannon muttered.

"We're not _that_ bad." Tom cast a disparaging glance at Emma.

"Tom, I learned that's a lie from my first few years of being married." Emma gave him a look as though she were seeing right through him. "If you're not thinking about food, it's about sex. If your mind's not on sex it's thinking about food."

"No, Tom spends more time thinking about Manchester United than he does thinking about food." Shannon laughed.

"I do not!" Tom protested. "I'm actually getting better with that."

"No, I can tell that's a load of crap because you brought that cuddly football pillow you curl up with." Shannon shoved him light-heartedly. "You spend more time cuddling that at night than you cuddle me during the day!"

"Well I wouldn't if we weren't in separate beds." Tom defended.

"Are you ready to order?" Everyone looked up at a waitress who was blushing furiously.

"Oh, we're so sorry." Emma tried to hide her burning embarrassment as she buried her face into the menu. "I'll have the chicken Kiev with the homemade tomato sauce and salad on the side please."

"Can I get the duck meal with no pineapple?" Dan asked.

"That's certainly possible." The waitress replied as she noted it down.

"That'll be great then, thanks." Dan nodded.

"Can I have the double burger with bacon please?" Tom asked.

"I'll have the chicken strips with fries and beans please?" Shannon said as the waitress kept scribbling orders down.

"I'll have the pork chop and roast potatoes please." Rhydian passed the menu to Maddy. "What are you having, Mads?" Maddy looked over the menu. It all looked far too rich and the portion descriptions looked far too big, but she knew she had to try something.

"Can I please get the…" Maddy was frantically scanning the menu. Something about the thought of food right then made her want to throw up. "What's the lightest thing you have on here?"

"You can always go for a sandwich if you're not up to much." The waitress suggested. "There's a page here…" She reached over and turned the page to show Maddy. "These sandwiches are basically like mini meals. I'd recommend the venison sausage sandwich. The meat is local as well and you get a choice of sauces. There's cranberry, ketchup, brown sauce, barbecue sauce because some people are weird like that and so on."

"I'll have one of those with cranberry sauce, thanks." Maddy nodded, smiling gratefully.

"It'll be about a ten minute wait." The waitress cast one last smile at all of them before departing. Maddy scanned the room, frantic to find something to distract herself from how she was feeling. Eventually, her eyes fell on a table near the far end of the room. She noticed a powerful looking Wolfblood sitting there with obviously dyed black hair that was slicked back with so much gel it looked like he hadn't washed it for a week. In spite of that, Maddy could smell a fresh scent radiating from him. Something about that seemed interestingly false though.

Sitting with him were three other Wolfbloods. There was a girl just older than Maddy with raven-coloured hair that was just a few shades darker than the man's. The difference was that the colour of her hair looked natural. She had a young-looking face with slight age lines that looked like they'd been chiselled in by a torturous life she didn't want. On the other side of him was a woman about his age. Her face showed definite signs of haggardness despite a clearly valiant effort with her make-up. Finally, there was a young bratty looking boy who was throwing a tantrum that everyone was obviously too used to since they weren't making any effort to stop him.

"Mads, are you okay?" Rhydian's voice brought her back to the present.

"Do you think those are the Wolfbloods Martin was talking about earlier?" she whispered. Rhydian cast a cautious glance over.

"I think so."

"Well, let them enjoy their meal." Emma shrugged. "They're not our problem."

"Not yet, anyway." Maddy muttered under her breath.

"What was that, Maddy?" Dan asked.

"I've just got a bad feeling that something awful might happen." Maddy explained quickly.

"What sort of 'something' are we on about here?" Emma asked curiously.

"I don't know. I just know that if it's going to happen it'll be soon."

"That's nothing to really go on." Tom said.

"I know that!" Maddy snapped. "Tom, I'm not psychic! I can't work miracles. I just really don't feel right at the moment."

"Okay, well just enjoy tonight, sleep on it and see if you still feel the same in the morning." Emma shrugged. "If something happens, it happens. There'll probably be nothing we can do about it." Maddy looked like she wanted to say more, but was cut off by music drifting from a stage in the corner. She looked up to see the dark-haired girl standing on it. She glanced over to see the girl's family still at the table. The powerful Wolfblood was looking over expectantly as though he knew this was going to be a good show. The female was downing a glass of wine while simultaneously beckoning a waiter for more and the young boy was still throwing a tantrum.

"Is someone going to sing?" Emma looked over at the stage. "I didn't know it was open karaoke night. Maybe I'll have a go myself."

"No, it's a pre-booked night. I checked with Martin earlier." Dan lied desperately. Maddy kept her gaze fixed on the stage as the girl nervously got ready. She opened her mouth only for the ugliest, scratchiest note known to man to shatter the air around everyone. She collapsed to the floor coughing into one hand with the other one pressed to her throat. The alpha male who was clearly her father stood up and stormed over as a waiter hastily started pouring his wife another glass of wine.

"I'll tell you when to stop!" the wife snapped as she put a hand on the neck of the bottle to stop him from moving it away from the glass until the glass was practically overflowing. Meanwhile, the alpha had made it to the stage as the girl finished coughing and was able to breathe again.

"You useless girl!" he screamed as he raised his hand. His eyes burned yellow and the black veins pulsated in his arms and neck. Just as he brought his hand down to strike her, his arm was intercepted. The Wolfblood who'd stopped him had blond hair and looked very similar to… Maddy looked to the seat on her right. Rhydian wasn't there. He was up on the stage. He'd just stopped the Wolfblood from striking his daughter.

"Back off!" Rhydian warned him. The muscles in his arm shook with the effort of holding the alpha's fist back while the alpha's black veins bulged from stress and anger.

"Do you have _any_ idea who you're messing with?" the Wolfblood snarled. With that, he let loose a roar that made everyone at his family's table stop what they were doing and shrink back into their seats. The girl behind Rhydian also cowered away. Rhydian on the other hand was having none of it. His eyes ignited as inky blood coursed through his arms. In retaliation, he unleashed a roar strong enough to send shockwaves through everyone in the room. Even the Wolfblood he was standing up to jolted in place. While he was quick to bury his fear, Rhydian knew he was on top.

"Did you have any idea he could do that?" Shannon whispered to Maddy. In reply, she just shook her head dumbly, her tongue seemingly robbed of the power to form words.

"I think _you're_ the one who needs to watch who he's dealing with." Rhydian glared up at the alpha with rage burning in his eyes. The alpha backed off slowly before pushing his wolf further and starting to transform. Rhydian crouched down and also started to change. Just then, a fourth person jumped onto the stage. This Wolfblood let out a roar that startled both of them into reversing their transformations and returning to human form. They turned to look at the Wolfblood who'd interfered.

"Both of you, stop it!" he ordered. "Marcus, I've put up with this for long enough. You financed having your own room built here. That's fine. You pay to stay here so I've put up with you as much as I legally can. But if you _ever_ raise your hand to your family in this holiday resort again, it'll be the last time you ever stay here. You might own a company, but that's no excuse to do what you were about to. Your over-inflated ego has no place here. You _will_ respect everyone here just like everyone else does and every Wolfblood before you has. Am I clear?" Marcus just nodded, glaring furiously at Rhydian. Martin walked over to where the girl was still on the floor. He was a grizzled old Wolfblood who was missing his right arm from a fox trap, but that didn't stop him from projecting a warm and friendly demeanour. He extended his remaining hand and helped her up. "Are you okay, Ash?"

"I'm fine, thanks." Rhydian noticed a red stain in the corner of her mouth and so pulled a tissue from his pocket and offered it to her.

"Your lipstick got smudged. Here you go." She took the tissue gratefully and wiped her crimson lipstick off before stuffing the tissue under the right spaghetti strap on her dress.

"Be careful. You'll make your girlfriend jealous." Ash warned him, her voice still slightly hoarse and scratchy.

"No, she knows I only love her and no one else." Rhydian shrugged. "Anyway, if you see us around feel free to come over and say hi." With that, Rhydian jumped down from the stage and made his way back over to his table. As he walked, he could see conflicted emotions on people's faces. It was as though they wanted to applaud him, but were afraid Marcus would raise their energy bills.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Maddy snapped as he sat back down. "You could have been killed!"

"I have no time for people like him." Rhydian growled as he took some deep breaths to force his wolf to calm down. "I grew up without my parents around. It sickens me to see parents who have their kids around and they treat them so badly that they end up terrified."

"Rhydian I know how you felt, believe me." Maddy said as she wrapped her arms around him. "I hear Jimi at school always talking to Sam and Liam about his dad when he thinks no one's listening and it breaks my heart. I saw the way his dad shunned him at the art show shortly after we first met. But if you go jumping in front of alpha males like that, _you_ could be the one getting hurt. If I'd known you were going to do something like that, I'd have backed you up."

"I know you would. We've been together through thick and thin." Rhydian said as he returned the hug.

"Yeah, Katrina was the thick one, the other two Ks are thin and all of them are a pain in the arse." Tom chipped in and received a smack on the arm from Shannon for the trouble. Just then, the waitress came back with their food.

"Here are your orders everyone." She cast an admiring glance at Rhydian. "And _you_ are getting an extra pork chop and a free pudding for what you just did." With that, she placed the plates in front of everyone. Sure enough, Rhydian had two pork chops on his plate instead of one.

"So does he often give you trouble?" Rhydian asked.

"Yeah, he's intolerable." The waitress rolled her eyes. "I want to spike his food so badly, but I just have to settle for spitting in his glass whenever he has a drink. I'm surprised Segolia can't do something about his daughter's situation though. Did you hear her there? She's clearly ill and it's got so much worse since yesterday."

"Segolia don't actually have any legal obligations to intervene unless she directly asks." Emma told her. "They don't operate in a definable branch of government and if they work outside of company bounds they do it for whoever has the most money."

"So they're like mercenaries." Dan shrugged.

"Yeah, or like Kay's mum when the rent's due." Tom said before hiding a wince as Shannon ground her fist into his ribs right where he had an old injury.

"What do you mean she's ill?" Maddy asked, wanting to divert the subject.

"There's something wrong with her throat." The waitress replied. "She was singing like a well-fed canary a few weeks ago. Suddenly, she hits a bad note one day and gets a load of verbal from her father. She was complaining of a sore throat the rest of the day and all of the next day. Over the next two weeks, I've seen her condition deteriorate, but she's been keeping it well hidden."

"There's definitely something wrong." Rhydian nodded.

"How do you know?" Maddy asked, rounding on him. "You don't know her!"

"I know that wasn't lipstick in the corner of her mouth." Rhydian countered.

"What was it then?" Shannon asked. "It might have just been food or wine."

"Food and wine don't smell like blood." Rhydian sliced a chunk off his pork chop and ate it. "God, this is good."

"Well, we can't go making decisions for her or anything like that." Emma shrugged as she tucked in as well. She stabbed her fork into her chicken Kiev, only for a steaming hot jet of garlic butter straight towards the waitress. The waitress' eyes ignited yellow and she dodged with a level of speed and agility that Maddy could have sworn was beyond any Wolfblood. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Emma was clearly mortified.

"How did you do that?" Shannon asked.

"I was a gymnast before I put my knee out." The waitress shrugged. Being a waitress here isn't a dead-end job like most other places, even if it _is_ no less gruelling. But the fact that we all began as something else still applies. And with that, I'll leave you to get on with your food. If you need anything, just call me over." The waitress left and everyone tucked in properly. Maddy was slower to tuck in to her food. She still couldn't face much, but the sandwich was gorgeous. She'd never had venison sausages before, but now she wondered how that was possible. She made a mental note to have those sandwiches again at another point in her life. It was definitely something to put on the bucket list.

Once everyone had finished, the waitress passed by to collect the plates and take pudding orders. Maddy and Rhydian decided to share a homemade lemon cheesecake. Tom had chocolate pudding and Shannon decided on a slice of cherry pie with ice cream. Emma went for a slice of bread pudding and Dan opted for a bowl of apple crumble.

"So we're here for the week and then it's straight back to school." Shannon muttered.

"We get back on the Saturday, so you'll have a day to get back into the mindset." Emma nodded.

"Well, it'll be interesting to see if Jefferies replaced that security fence that couldn't even stop Rhydian." Maddy muttered.

"Have you started the revenge homework that Jefferies set you yet?" Shannon asked, turning in Rhydian's direction.

"I assumed he was joking about that." Rhydian shrugged.

"Rhydian, when has he ever joked about homework?" Maddy's question was a rhetorical one, but made its point.

"Honestly, I _hope_ he's joking." Rhydian muttered. "He'd _better_ be joking."

Once everyone had eaten, they decided to head back to their rooms for the night. Maddy and Rhydian waited until Emma and Dan had gone inside, with Maddy pretending to rifle through her pockets for the key to buy them both the time they needed so Emma and Dan didn't see inside, before heading into their own room and flopping down on the bed.

"God, I'm stuffed." Rhydian groaned.

"Yeah, I feel like I'm going to explode." Maddy reached into her suitcase and grabbed her pyjamas before going into the bathroom to change. While she was doing that, Rhydian rummaged around in his own suitcase for one of the t-shirts he usually slept in. He pulled out one of them only to see that the armpit sections had been crudely cut away with a pair of children's safety scissors. Swearing under his breath, he grabbed another one and discovered it had fallen victim to a similar treatment. Just then, Maddy emerged from the bathroom area and took in the sight before her.

"Well, I've got nothing to sleep in." Rhydian said, visibly frustrated.

"Oh, my…" Maddy struggled to contain her laughter at the sight of Rhydian holding up a shirt that had been hacked to pieces.

"I'm going to kill Ollie and Joe when I get home!" Rhydian growled, his eyes flushing yellow.

"How do you know it was them?" Maddy asked. "You haven't been home in weeks."

"I went back to grab some fresh shirts for while I was here." Rhydian rolled his eyes. "I should have known leaving my stuff unguarded for that long would be trouble."

"So just sleep in your boxers." Maddy shrugged.

"Are you sure?" Rhydian asked sheepishly. "We're sharing a bed here."

"We were sharing a bed at my place!" Maddy reminded him in an exasperated tone. "Literally the only difference is that I can't shove my hands up your shirt to warm them up in the night!"

"Is _that_ why my back was always so cold?" The look Rhydian gave Maddy told her that he was already planning revenge.

"Rhydian, I've seen you shirtless before." Maddy pressed. "It's not like you've got any reason to have low body confidence. You're not small and chubby."

"Maddy, being small does not mean you aren't beautiful." Rhydian said as he wrapped her in a hug and planted a kiss on the top of her head. "You're really cute, especially when you get angry. But that doesn't mean I don't take you seriously. And when you smile it just lights up your whole face. I don't see what you have to be unconfident about." Maddy buried her face into Rhydian's chest and held him close. When she looked up at him again, there were tears in her eyes.

"I really don't deserve you."

"No, you deserve much better, but you got stuck with me." Rhydian replied as he kissed her quickly.

"That's not true." Maddy muttered as soon as his lips left hers. "You've always deserved so much better than me."

"How can you even say that?" Rhydian cocked his head to the side in confusion. "You are beyond anyone I could have ever dreamed of being with. When we first met, you saved my life."

"We saved each other." Maddy confessed. "Seriously, I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't come along. I needed another Wolfblood around and there wasn't one. Then you came along and it was so much easier having someone my own age to share this stuff with."

"At least you knew what you were and that there were more of you." Rhydian scoffed. "I thought I was the only one and that I'd be living a life of isolation."

"Well, you were wrong." Maddy grinned as she jumped into the bed.

"I'm just going to get changed." Rhydian headed into the bathroom and shut the door. Maddy couldn't help but grin to herself. While he was in the bathroom, she stealthily crawled to the foot of the bed and stuffed the child's safety scissors that she'd had since she was five and used for scrapbooking under the cardboard base that helped the suitcase hold its shape and that she used as a false bottom. With that done, she crawled back under the covers and waited for Rhydian. Eventually, he came out and jumped in next to her.

"I love you." Maddy muttered sleepily as she cuddled tightly into him.

"What were you crawling around on the bed for?" Rhydian asked. "It sounded like you were trying to be really quiet about it."

"I was just double-checking I'd remembered my phone charger." Maddy lied shamelessly. Suddenly, there was a shadow that rapidly dropped past the window accompanied by a high-pitched scream.

"What the hell was that?" Rhydian sat up a bit in bed as black veins raced through his arms.

"Rhydian, have you never heard an owl before?" Maddy giggled. "They don't make stereotypical owl noises. It sounds like nails down a chalkboard. They're really common around here and they're primarily nocturnal."

"That didn't sound like an owl." Rhydian muttered as he cautiously settled back down and cuddled into Maddy again.

"I don't see anything else it could have been." Maddy shrugged. "Either it was an owl or someone was having a real midnight crisis."

End!


End file.
